Former Minister for Regional Development; Lands; Minister Assisting the Minister for State Development

Health care boost for growing coastal communities

30/01/2017 12:00 PM

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$22.46 million investment in Jurien Bay, Lancelin and Dongara

Includes telehealth to help deliver primary care and outpatient services

Extension of successful Southern Inland Health Initiative

Made possible by Liberal National Government's Royalties for Regions

The success of the Liberal National Government's Southern Inland Health Initiative will be extended, with a $22.46 million investment in the growing coastal areas of Jurien Bay, Lancelin and Dongara.

Health Minister John Day said the funding would deliver essential emergency, acute, short-stay and community-based care, along with an expansion of telehealth services to help streamline primary and outpatient care.

"This substantial investment will ensure residents and visitors to the increasingly popular coastal areas from Lancelin to Dongara have access to more comprehensive health services," Mr Day said.

"Aside from a significant building program, the aim is to enable as many telehealth access points as possible, including at community resource centres, WA Country Health Service sites and GP surgeries.

"This will also help support even more responsive emergency care, augmented by a new quick retrieval helicopter landing site at Jurien Bay and upgrades to St John Ambulance transport services and equipment."

Mr Day said the funding included financial incentives for local GPs and extra aged care beds in the Dongara Health Service.

"The benefits will be felt across the region, including improved palliative care, rehabilitation, community midwifery, physiotherapy, social work, aged care and seniors' mental health care services," he said.

Regional Development Minister Terry Redman said the investment was made possible by Royalties for Regions.

"This will help strengthen these communities and reduce the loss of family and work time that residents often currently experience when having to access health care further afield," Mr Redman said.

"Strategic initiatives like this are a hallmark of Royalties for Regions, aiming not only to save lives but to improve the quality of country life."

Fact File

The $22.46m investment will be rolled out over four years

The new funding is in addition to the recent Southern Inland Health Initiative $2.56m grant to upgrade the aged care day centre and overnight respite lodge in Jurien Bay and the redevelopment at the Jurien Bay Health Centre

In the 2015-16 financial year, there were almost 33,500 occasions of clinical service delivered by telehealth across regional WA, including more than 16,500 emergency treatments, more than 5,000 mental health appointments and almost 12,000 outpatient consultations

The $500m Southern Inland Health Initiative includes the biggest capital works program ever undertaken by the WA Country Health Service, with new builds and upgrades to 37 hospitals and health services in the Wheatbelt, South-West, Great Southern and Mid-West